The guy and his company are crooks and I hope as many people as possible spread the word about this low life. The dive profession, actually, no profession should have these types of people operating. Hopefully his company will soon fail and they won't get a chance to stick it to any more of you good people.

Interests:I spend most of my time alpine climbing, hiking, mtn. biking, or skiing. When I can get away it is to travel for climbing or diving. Been doing this nonsense for way too long to do anything different.

Posted 11 April 2009 - 07:31 PM

Please note - BackScatter is also listed as a sponsor. I have forwarded them a link to this thread. I have also forwarded a link to Divi Resorts.

After I posted this on Scubaboard, the only person who tried to defend Brad was the guy who, it appears, runs Scubaboard. He said Brad had done business with him and he considers Brad his friend. Then he tried to imply it was Robyn, who had a "bogus card" as he called it, was at fault. He even goes on to say he hadn't even read this thread but again tries to imply this was simply a case of someone wanting to get something for nothing. Since then he has been pounded for his remarks and attitude.

He was just trying to be diplomatic, and stepped on his tongue a little bit - he's got a business to run too and is justifiably concerned about his own site being implicated should accusations turn out to be false.

While I don't agree with his comments (and said so there) let's not start spreading the tar and feathers too indiscriminately. Internet "outrage" has a bad tendency to spill into an uncontrolled feedback loop.

After I posted this on Scubaboard, the only person who tried to defend Brad was the guy who, it appears, runs Scubaboard. He said Brad had done business with him and he considers Brad his friend. Then he tried to imply it was Robyn, who had a "bogus card" as he called it, was at fault. He even goes on to say he hadn't even read this thread but again tries to imply this was simply a case of someone wanting to get something for nothing. Since then he has been pounded for his remarks and attitude.

Thanks for helping to warn other people BDSC. Quite frankly, I'm surprised and disappointed that NetDoc tried to discredit me based upon false information that was given to him. Hopefully he'll visit this thread and read the information in its entirety so he'll have a better understanding of what's really been happening to people. Thanks for your support. Robyn

Robyn called me back in early January asking me if I might knew of a fair and civil way to deal with not receiving the prize for this contest that she was told she won. At that time it had been about two months since the contest winners were announced. Considering that she had contacted the contest organizers several times with no response, I suggested she post the story here on Wetpixel to entice them to pay up. But Robyn, being the very nice person she is, told me she wanted to give them another chance to make good on their promises. We had heard from other winners who had not received the prizes, so I was glad to see Robyn's post.

I really don't think this is about screw ups with the entry fees. Regardless of whether or not the fee was paid, Dive Chronicles picked her as the winner of the contest! If there was a problem with her entry or payment, then she should have been told that BEFORE she won the contest. She should not be penalized for the organizers incompetence in running a contest.

Now Brad Nolan is doing some serious back-peddling to cover his own ass. When I first heard about this I thought that he just dropped the ball. From the start I told Robyn that I could not imagine that an organization like Dive Chronicles would intentionally screw the contest winners, but after seeing Brad's response I see I was wrong.

Robyn, if nothing else comes out of this, your photo is still a winner and you did a nice job of making the rest of the world aware of what a crook (and a jerk on top of that) this guy is.

Thank you for your great advice and for all of your support Bonnie. I'm glad you suggested that I do this, and then gave me a little 'nudge' when I was dragging my feet. With the number of people who have read this thread, and with what's posted on scubadiving.com,,,and now on ScubaBoard,,,hopefully no one else will get burned! Robyn

Thanks for helping to warn other people BDSC. Quite frankly, I'm surprised and disappointed that NetDoc tried to discredit me based upon false information that was given to him. Hopefully he'll visit this thread and read the information in its entirety so he'll have a better understanding of what's really been happening to people. Thanks for your support. Robyn

Glad to help in any way I can. I hate to see people get the shaft like what happened to you. But at least your picture was judged to be the BEST in it's class. Congratulations on that by the way. Great photo!

I just have zero tolerance for people who lie/cheat/steal. It takes no more effort to be honest and upfront about things and most of the time less effort. So I'll never understand why people act that way.

Whoah. In his support of the contest, Netdoc wrote, "No tickey, no laundry," which is considered to be a racial slur by most Asians. Classy.

Off subject, Eric, I thought it interesting that when in conversation with some British tabloid journalists, I mentioned my wife was Asian, they accused me of being a racist! It seems they think Asian is a racist term - which I believe says more about them than me. (By the way, I didn't marry her to teach her a lesson!)

Edited by John Bantin, 13 April 2009 - 02:50 AM.

I buy my own photographic kit. Diving equipment manufacturers and diving services suppliers get even-handed treatment from me whether they choose to advertise in the publications I write for or not. All the equipment I get on loan is returned as soon as it is finished with.Did you know you can now get Diver Mag as an iPad/Android app?

Well technically John, I think the objection is the actual mentioning of race vs country of origin . Russians, Uzbeks, Turks, Indians, Mongolians and Chinese are all asian countries. I spent 2 hours on a boat during a memorial service trying to ignore a german woman's annoying insistence that I must have a background more than being american.

As for Pete's(NetDoc) remark of chinese immigrant's style of english and insistence of taking Brad's side without even researching the facts, ignorance is pervasive in this world, even in this day and age.

Drew
Moderator
"Journalism is what someone else does not want printed, everything else is public relations."

"I was born not knowing, and have only had a little time to change that here and there.

Wouldn't be surprised if Pete and Brad are scrambling to get prizes into everyone's hands that were suppose to have them so they can come back and say, "Problem....there's no problem? Everyone has their prizes. We don't know what you are talking about."

Well technically John, I think the objection is the actual mentioning of race vs country of origin . Russians, Uzbeks, Turks, Indians, Mongolians and Chinese are all asian countries. I spent 2 hours on a boat during a memorial service trying to ignore a german woman's annoying insistence that I must have a background more than being american.

When she applied for a job once with Marks & Spencer she had to put a tick in a box to indicate ethnic origin. Choices included Asian Chinese, Asian Indian and Asian Other. She ticked Asian Other. She actually comes from that country that lies between Irag and Afghanistan. I can't mention its name in case someone in your country thinks she's from an Evil Empire.

My kids, of course, are quite confused!

Edited by John Bantin, 13 April 2009 - 10:48 AM.

I buy my own photographic kit. Diving equipment manufacturers and diving services suppliers get even-handed treatment from me whether they choose to advertise in the publications I write for or not. All the equipment I get on loan is returned as soon as it is finished with.Did you know you can now get Diver Mag as an iPad/Android app?

Pete's silence in the thread is indicative of him actually researching and realizing he goofed. It'll be interesting to see his response since there've been adverse reaction to his comments.

When she applied for a job once with Marks & Spencer she had to put a tick in a box to indicate ethnic origin. Choices included Asian Chinese, Asian Indian and Asian Other. She ticked Asian Other. She actually comes from that country that lies between Irag and Afghanistan.My kids, of course, are quite confused!

I just spoke with Brad briefly about the contest and will speak with him in more detail this weekend at the Bay Area dive show. While Backscatter is a main sponsor of the contest, we do not have any control over the running of the contest or the awarding of prizes. However, I will ensure that the winners of the Backscatter prizes will have them awarded after I meet with Brad this weekend. Rest assured there will be no question about this.

Specifically regarding Robyn's situation, I asked Brad what is going on. Brad said that he did not receive a payment from her. On this thread, Robyn confirmed that her card had not been charged. Brad said that as soon he receives the $10 entry fee from Robyn, he will send out the prize. Hopefully this particular issue can be resolved quickly, and Robyn can receive her prize.

I've known Brad for a while, and I don't think he is intentionally trying to cheat anyone out of prizes. The prizes are certificates in envelopes that are sitting in a desk drawer that have no value to anyone besides the prize winner. In the past he has always delivered the prizes Backscatter has supplied for previous contests. Obviously, the organization of this contest and the prize distribution was far from optimal, and he needs to take responsibility for that and enact a resolution for the prize winners. I think it is fair to say that if someone who won a prize did not have their entry fee collected (for whatever reason, be it a no fault of their own, or a clerical error, declined card, etc.) that payment of the entry fee now should release their prize. It's not fair to the people who paid an entry fee and did not place in the contest to have someone receive a prize who did not have their fee collected.

I hope how this particular contest was handled doesn't deter anyone from entering other photo contests that the sponsors of this contest support. I have not had any problems with other contests regarding prize delivery.

Going to browse Backscatter's site now that I've cleared out my SB profile. Just giving creds where they're due (and not where they're not).

Yeah, it's not quite the apology I would have expected. Talk about side-stepping responsibilty! I've actually met Pete on at least two different occasions .....the first being at a SB-sponsored event in Islamorada nearly two years ago, and the second being at the Wild Blue Expo in Dania Beach, FL this past February where I exhibited and sold my photography.He was very congenial in both instances which made me even more surprised and taken aback by his response on SB. Hey, everyone has a bad day from time to time and I'll be the first to admit that I've been 'short' with people in the past when I really didn't intend to.It's times like these that the only right thing to do is say, "Hey I was wrong,,,I'm sorry". It's not all that painful and it really makes you feel good to clear your conscience. Robyn